1. Engaging
Techniques for
Teaching Students
& Scholars
How to Read Scientific Papers
With
Dr. Leonardo Morsut, Assistant Professor of Stem Cell Biology &
Regenerative Medicine, Keck School of Medicine of USC & Dept. of
Biomedical Engineering, Viterbi School of Engineering
Dr. Katherine Guevara, Associate Director of Clinical & Translational
Research Education Programs, SC CTSI Workforce Development at the
University of Southern California

2. Warm Up
Why do our students/scholars of
all levels struggle with scientific
papers?

3. The Struggle is Real
• Gaps in learning/experience
• Multiple languages
• Different academic cultures
• No/limited access to research
• Different evaluation criteria
• Poorly-written articles
• Overwhelming schedule
• Accessible document formats
• Osmosis learning assumed
• Limited context for why this skill is important

4. Objectives
Identify reasons why
students/scholars struggle with
scientific papers
Apply provided engagement
strategies to our own teaching
Plan updates for how we teach
scientific papers

5. Dr. Morsut’s
Course
50 students
1-unit elective
Multi-level

6. Teaching Technique 1
Using “Gamification”
Skill: Recognize a paper section from a quote
• Professor presents the different sections of a paper
• Professor models how to recognize each section per its
purpose & content
• Students practice via Poll Everywhere friendly
competition

7. Let’s try it—
Recognize a paper
section from a quote
Each participant…
1. Uses their phone or other Internet-
enabled device to join the instructor’s
Poll Everywhere
2. Selects the best answer from the
choices provided
3. Attempts to “win” the prize
5 minutes

8. Teaching Technique 2
Expert Shows “Worked Example”
Skill: Extract claims from an abstract
• Professor presents different parts of an abstract
(background, need, novel findings, impact)
• Professor models how they extract claims from findings
• Students practice professor’s method via “think, pair,
share” in groups
• Students use shared Google slide deck with one slide
per group

9. Let’s try it—
Extract claims from an
abstract
1. In groups, locate the shared Google
slide deck (link provided in chat)
2. Identify the new claims found in the
provided abstract
3. Input your findings on your group’s
slide
4. Present your group slide back with the
whole group, not repeating
information from other groups
10 minutes

10. Teaching Technique 3
Climbing Bloom’s Taxonomy
Skill: Write a caption for a figure
• Professor presents a paper with a multi-panel figure with
10 subpanels
• Professor does a worked example using one of subpanels
& filling in guiding questions
• Students work in groups to analyze different subpanels &
report back
• Students work individually to title entire panel
• Professor leads debrief for putting it in context sharing
real-world reasons it’s important

11. Let’s try it—
Write a caption for a
figure
1. In groups, review your assigned
subpanel in shared Google slides
2. Use the guiding questions to analyze
the subpanel
3. Report findings back to the whole
group
4. Each individual writes & submits one
title for the whole multi-panel figure
(using information from each group’s
presentation)
10 minutes

12. Recommended Resources & Tips
• USC Kortschak Center for Learning & Creativity’s reading resources (based on
Seli, H. & Dembo, M.H. (2020). Motivation and learning strategies for college
success: a focus on self-regulated learning. New York: Routledge.)
• USC Libraries Request-a-Class visit led by librarian faculty who are experts in
teaching literacy and research skills and create guides on reading research.
• USC American Language Institute and International Academy specialize in
teaching research skills to international students.

13. Tip
Leverage USC librarian faculty
colleagues
• Request-a-librarian guest expert visit
• Co-design an active learning assignment using USC
Libraries search

15. Tip
Have cultural conversations
• Invite discussion of how scientific papers are written,
published, searched for, evaluated, read & cited in other
countries’ academic cultures
• Explain & practice U.S. academic cultural values such as
views on plagiarism

16. Closing
How will your next attempt to
teach scientific papers
incorporate a strategy from our
work today?

17. Review of Objectives
Identify reasons why
students/scholars struggle with
scientific papers
Apply provided engagement
strategies to our own teaching
Plan updates for how we teach
scientific papers

18. Thank You!
SC CTSI | www.sc-ctsi.org Phone: (323) 442-4032 Email: info@sc-ctsi.org Twitter: @SoCalCTSI
Cite us: This work was supported by grants UL1TR001855 and UL1TR000130 from the National Center for Advancing
Translational Science (NCATS) of the U.S. National Institutes of Health. The content is solely the responsibility of the authors
and does not necessarily represent the official views of the National Institutes of Health.
18